Singapore faces grim labour future as population ages rapidly: Oxford Economics study – 6 Sep 2017

• The city state will face a double whammy: a shrinking workforce and slower progress than Asian neighbours in getting more people into the labour market
• According to a new study by Oxford Economics, Singapore’s labour supply – after accounting for changes to the participation rate – will shrink by 1.7% in the 10 years through 2026 and by 2.5% in the decade after that.
• Almost all Asian nations will face demographic challenges over the next two decades, and efforts to boost labour participation rates – for example, by drawing more women into the workforce and raising the retirement age – will only marginally limit the negative impact.
• In Singapore, immigration restrictions can partly explain an expected drop in working age population growth from 2027, even as Louis Kuijs, the Hong Kong-based head of Asia economics at Oxford, credits foreign labour inflows for helping boost that pool over the last decade.
• The grim rule of thumb for the region: A 1% decline in labour supply in any of these areas would shave off a 0.5% to 0.66% in GDP growth.

External Link : http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/singapore-faces-a-grim-labor-future-as-population-ages-rapidly

External Link : https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/my-oxford/publications/389117